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I'll start by saying I was a wreck during the final few minutes of this game. When Banta-Cain got the well-deserved penalty, I almost lost my mind and broke the TV. This was not a pretty win for the team and they looked as if they weren't into the game for most of it. Maybe they'll blame it on another bad week of practice (or maybe they would have had they lost). This was not their best game by a lot: Brady should have had about three INT's in the game; the run defense allowed Jackson, who is absolutely terrible, to run all over them; the O-line was putrid, etc.

BUT

A) This is exactly the kind of game that the Patriots needed to experience. Complacency is a very real things that players and coaches (and even fans) must worry about, even on the professional level. After the 5-game stretch the Patriots experienced before this game where they were annihilating their opponents, a game like this was necessary to bring everyone (even us) back down to earth, especially a team made up of so many young players. Sustained success is not always a good thing and I think Reiss realized that when he talked to Tedy about whether or not the team was peaking too soon. The Patriots needed a game like this to regain a certain focus that winning all the time doesn't afford a team. Remember how good that Cleveland loss was for the team?

B) This is perhaps the more important of the two point: The Playoffs are around the corner and the game tonight more closely resembles what playoff football is like more than the stretch where the Pats were killing everyone. Games are closer, more intense, and often come down to the last possession in the playoffs. You can't simulate that in practice or the meeting rooms. The players needed to experience that now and maybe that will carry over into the playoffs. This is the time when the team needs to be preparing for that type of atmosphere and those types of games. They played a desperate team tonight that was going all out, and that's what every playoff team does.

So, I say to all my Patsfans.com brothers and sisters that there is no reason to panic or be weary. The Pats will hopefully learn from this game. Playoffs are around the corner. Let's get excited.

Do not assume the Bills and Dolphins are done deals. These teams have come up with huge efforts against us at this time of year before. Both of them will play as hard as possible just to end their year on a high note, so they have nothing to lose by playing the best they can. I'm nervous about both teams getting lucky at the wrong time. We have to get a quick lead on them because if either one stays close it only takes one or two bad ball bounces to hand them a game.

I'll start by saying I was a wreck during the final few minutes of this game. When Banta-Cain got the well-deserved penalty, I almost lost my mind and broke the TV.

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I agree with everything you've said but this. If they are gonna make that call on TBC, then they need to make the call on the packers offensive lineman who has his hands up into TBC's face mask at the same time. Too many shoddy calls out there tonight. The amount of times that Wilfork is blatantly held every game and no calls are made is beginning to be absurd. That call on McCourty? C'mon!

Glad the pats got to experience a bring them back down to earth type of game before the playoffs though. Hopefully this will bring more fire into that locker room that will carry to the end of the NFL playoff season.

Do not assume the Bills and Dolphins are done deals. These teams have come up with huge efforts against us at this time of year before. Both of them will play as hard as possible just to end their year on a high note, so they have nothing to lose by playing the best they can. I'm nervous about both teams getting lucky at the wrong time. We have to get a quick lead on them because if either one stays close it only takes one or two bad ball bounces to hand them a game.

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The Bills and the Dolphins can keep hope alive all they want. They are going down, and it will make New England's victories that much more sweet.

I agree with everything you've said but this. If they are gonna make that call on TBC, then they need to make the call on the packers offensive lineman who has his hands up into TBC's face mask at the same time. Too many shoddy calls out there tonight. The amount of times that Wilfork is blatantly held every game and no calls are made is beginning to be absurd. That call on McCourty? C'mon!

Glad the pats got to experience a bring them back down to earth type of game before the playoffs though. Hopefully this will bring more fire into that locker room that will carry to the end of the NFL playoff season.

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No kidding, but the naysayers are looking for a few targets to make their Christmas... They showed the play in slow motion with Banta Cain on the post game show and it was clearly tit for tat hands to the face and the Packer OLman was first in... Bill wasn't too happy with this crew, he mentioned they have the most calls in the league and he seldom has a peep to say about officiating. Old "guns" is just a shell of his former self ever since his controversial game. Used to be one of the best crew chiefs in the business... And Vince was being held all day, including on the penalty they called against him for hands to the QB's head... Seemed like the Pack was getting the circumstantial sympathy vote all evening.

I do agree this was the ideal kind of win with 2 to go and one to win for HFA throughout. It will help put a few egos back in check. Although I must say the kid on that D who could justify some ego seems to be immune to it, as well as a quick healer. Unlike the safety who nearly killed him tonight and cost us a TD in the process... In a way I was glad his INT didn't count after the way he totally screwed the pooch on that TD play. Merriweather remains living proof that loss of focus and inconsistent execution remains a problem for this young D, and considering he's a third year player he may not be around all that much longer...

Bill seemed genuinely down on himself tonight, and I think perhaps with good reason. This team didn't seem prepared, beyond erratic execution, for what the Packers brought tonight. Rodney said the other night on NFLN that Capers zone blitz scheme was exactly what Brady eats alive and if they didn't get pressure up the middle with 3-4 and play man and get a bump on the receivers to disrupt Brady's timing they would be in for a long evening. Apparently Capers realized that while we didn't seem prepared to deal with it. Just like we seemed stunned by the onside to open the game and the deliberately short and squib kicks and the Packers revived running game... He was also reluctant to keep the blitz pressure up on a kid who was clearly rattled by it. It was as if they were at times baiting him to throw it and turns out absent pressure he could.

Bill seemed a little flumoxed even after it was over. They asked him how big Arrington's stop was on 3rd down and he started to downplay it as immaterial saying if they got the first down it wouldn't have mattered...until they reminded him absent the ability to spike the ball stop the clock that play is what led to the confusion that allowed the sack as the clock ran out.

So I think this game was good for this team on all levels... I expect them to be fully focused and situationally aware and executing next Sunday in Buffalo. A hats and tee shirts game. It shouldn't even enter their minds that Miami is toast because **** can happen on any given Sunday and you can't ever count on a gimme or you could be toast.

Unlike the safety who nearly killed him tonight and cost us a TD in the process... In a way I was glad his INT didn't count after the way he totally screwed the pooch on that TD play. Meriweather remains living proof that loss of focus and inconsistent execution remains a problem for this young D, and considering he's a third year player he may not be around all that much longer...

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Meriweather was the 24th selection in the 2007 NFL Draft. Meriweather is playing in his fourth season with the New England Patriots defense and has not become the leader of the New England Patriots defensive secondary. More often than not, Meriweather reacts to passing plays.

They asked him how big Arrington's stop was on 3rd down and he started to downplay it as immaterial saying if they got the first down it wouldn't have mattered...until they reminded him absent the ability to spike the ball stop the clock that play is what led to the confusion that allowed the sack as the clock ran out.

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Christ, who said Arrington made that stop?? It was another Chung solo stop. The guy's a freakin monster, he bench pressed 225 lbs 25 times at the combine. When he gets his hands on someone they go down.

Great post, btw. Completely agree with your conclusion: perfect set up for the Buffalo game. One win and we lock up the 1-seed.

Meriweather was the 24th selection in the 2007 NFL Draft. Meriweather is playing in his fourth season with the New England Patriots defense and has not become the leader of the New England Patriots defensive secondary. More often than not, Meriweather reacts to passing plays.

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Big Bang has all the physical tools, but he's unreliable and freakin scary as a free safety sometimes. DMC would actually be *far* better at safety than Big Bang, if he weren't so valuable at corner.

Problem is that Sanders has trouble in space sometimes, too. Guyton, Sanders, and Merriweather out there can be a pinball game sometimes: see Ray Rice in last year's opening run in the playoffs. Glad it was Page who came up when Guyton and Sanders ole'd on Kuhn at the end of the 3rd quarter.

What I'll take as a positive from this game was that the offense put 24 points up on the best scoring defense in the league, despite Brady spending quite a bit of time on the bench due to the onsides kick and the defense being on the field for an enormous stretch thanks to the pick six.

Playoff success is going to come down to the offense doing the most with the time they have on the field because it seems like when defense is not creating a turnover, it does not get off the field. If it wasn't obvious already, tonight showed that the only way to beat the Patriots is to keep Brady on the sideline.

Pats scored 31 points while holding the ball for under 20 minutes. Not all was on offense, sure, but the point stands. I also feel that the longer another offense has the ball, the more oppurtunies it gives our defense to make a big play, which is what it's built for this year.

And I'm not sure I understand why people are calling it a blueprint to beat the Pats. The Pat's won last I checked. While holding the ball for under 20 minutes through the entire game. This defense gives up ugly yards, but how many times this year have they made a huge play/plays at or near the end of the game? The Patriots have only lost twice this season and none of the other 11 (jets 1-1) teams have been able to replicate that. As far as i'm concerned there is no blueprint, maybe ideas, but you need to have the correct personell and you still have to execute. Just because you know HOW to beat someone doesn't mean you can or will. They play the games for a reason.

I looked at the Banta-Cain penalty again, and I still think it wasn't a bad call. The refs didn't throw the flag initially. They threw it when he made the second push to spin off of the O-lineman. I think that has to get called. It nearly cost the Pats the game, but that's a call that I think needed to be made.

That doesn't change the fact that there were some terrible calls last night. I also agree that I see Pats rushers getting held without calls quite often, especially in the Chargers game. I'm still just glad the Pats held on.

I'll start by saying I was a wreck during the final few minutes of this game. When Banta-Cain got the well-deserved penalty, I almost lost my mind and broke the TV. This was not a pretty win for the team and they looked as if they weren't into the game for most of it. Maybe they'll blame it on another bad week of practice (or maybe they would have had they lost). This was not their best game by a lot: Brady should have had about three INT's in the game; the run defense allowed Jackson, who is absolutely terrible, to run all over them; the O-line was putrid, etc.

BUT

A) This is exactly the kind of game that the Patriots needed to experience. Complacency is a very real things that players and coaches (and even fans) must worry about, even on the professional level. After the 5-game stretch the Patriots experienced before this game where they were annihilating their opponents, a game like this was necessary to bring everyone (even us) back down to earth, especially a team made up of so many young players. Sustained success is not always a good thing and I think Reiss realized that when he talked to Tedy about whether or not the team was peaking too soon. The Patriots needed a game like this to regain a certain focus that winning all the time doesn't afford a team. Remember how good that Cleveland loss was for the team?

B) This is perhaps the more important of the two point: The Playoffs are around the corner and the game tonight more closely resembles what playoff football is like more than the stretch where the Pats were killing everyone. Games are closer, more intense, and often come down to the last possession in the playoffs. You can't simulate that in practice or the meeting rooms. The players needed to experience that now and maybe that will carry over into the playoffs. This is the time when the team needs to be preparing for that type of atmosphere and those types of games. They played a desperate team tonight that was going all out, and that's what every playoff team does.

So, I say to all my Patsfans.com brothers and sisters that there is no reason to panic or be weary. The Pats will hopefully learn from this game. Playoffs are around the corner. Let's get excited.

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Perfect post. Absolutely true. Ugly or not, this was "situational football," as close to a playoff scenario as BB could've devised. His hangdog postgame attitude was likely a mix of genuine and an act he'll continue all week and moving forward as the playoffs approach. Just what the doctor ordered, no matter now inadvertant it was.